I was surprised to read in the popular press that, according to the BMJ,1 fibre is good for irritable bowel syndrome.

In 1994 we suggested that, at least in secondary care, cereal fibre was more likely to do harm than good in patients with irritable bowel syndrome.2 Now, as a gastroenterologist probably seeing more cases of severe irritable bowel than most of my colleagues, I find that the total exclusion of all …